I-26

[Plutonic Panda]

They need to build the road higher. It's funny how it looks like that little road crossing it made it.

[Bitmapped]

They need to build the road higher. It's funny how it looks like that little road crossing it made it.

The height of the bridges wasn't necessarily the problem here. It looks like the Nolichucky River eroded around the abutments of the I-26 bridges and tried to straighten itself out at a bend. The smaller Jackson Love Highway bridge crosses the river at close to a 90-degree angle on a straighter section and wasn't subject to the same forces from the river.

[BlueRidge]

They need to build the road higher. It's funny how it looks like that little road crossing it made it.

The height of the bridges wasn't necessarily the problem here. It looks like the Nolichucky River eroded around the abutments of the I-26 bridges and tried to straighten itself out at a bend. The smaller Jackson Love Highway bridge crosses the river at close to a 90-degree angle on a straighter section and wasn't subject to the same forces from the river.

Also consider the estimated crest (~30 ft) was approximately 125% of the record high (~24 ft), and the record occurred prior to construction of the freeway.

[Henry]

With Helene doing major damage to I-26 and I-40, does this mean that the planned upgrades north of Asheville (including the new connector) will be pushed back indefinitely?

[LilianaUwU]

With Helene doing major damage to I-26 and I-40, does this mean that the planned upgrades north of Asheville (including the new connector) will be pushed back indefinitely?

Weren't they already pushed back indefinitely?

[Thing 342]

Given its proximity to the French Broad River, I'm surprised that stretch of 26 didn't sustain more major damage.

[The Ghostbuster]

In response to Henry's question, I would say most definitely! I think the Interstate 26 upgrades should have been built well before now, but now it's going to take even longer.

[Plutonic Panda]

With Helene doing major damage to I-26 and I-40, does this mean that the planned upgrades north of Asheville (including the new connector) will be pushed back indefinitely?

Weren't they already pushed back indefinitely?

I believe so and scaled back. IIRC NC was already facing serious budget issues for their planned projects.

[vdeane]

With Helene doing major damage to I-26 and I-40, does this mean that the planned upgrades north of Asheville (including the new connector) will be pushed back indefinitely?

Weren't they already pushed back indefinitely?

They seem to think that signing it with interstate shields where the word "interstate" is replaced with "future" is all they need to do for I-26 to be continuous.

[Chris]

I'm wondering what the status of the expansion project between Asheville and Hendersonville is, NCDOT's website listed completion in 'summer 2024'. Was this project impacted by Hurricane Helene or was it pretty much completed?

https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i-26-widening/Pages/default.aspx

[I-55]

I'm wondering what the status of the expansion project between Asheville and Hendersonville is, NCDOT's website listed completion in 'summer 2024'. Was this project impacted by Hurricane Helene or was it pretty much completed?

https://www.ncdot.gov/projects/i-26-widening/Pages/default.aspx

This project was going to finish well behind schedule regardless of whether a big hurricane came or not. Much of the traffic was still on asphalt pavement as recent as April of this year so there was still plenty to do last time I went through

[cowboy_wilhelm]

There was flooding near the weigh station and lots of trees down, but I'm not aware of any major damage. NCDOT pulled contractors off of active construction sites to assist with emergency road repairs, but it looks like some are returning to their projects.



The widening is pretty close to completion between Exit 37 (Long Shoals Rd.) and Exit 49 (U.S. 64/Four Seasons). The dates have moved several times, but the last one I remember reading was that the Henderson County contract was supposed to have lanes open in October. That's not happening now, but maybe by the end of the year. The Buncombe County contract is more complicated since they've added the new interchange between Brevard Rd. and Long Shoals. Traffic is still on temporary asphalt from around MM 33.5 - 36.0/BRP overpass, but it looks like it's about ready for a shift to the new westbound lanes from MM 35 west for the eastbound rebuild. The last date I saw on that section is sometime in 2026, but that date may include completion of the new connector road.

You can view NOAA's post-storm aerial imagery to get a recent update throughout the project limits.

https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/helene/index.html#16.7/35.507087/-82.573127

[cowboy_wilhelm]

Two contracts have been let for the connector, including the big one for the new bridges across the French Broad River. I imagine it would take a lot of legal wrangling to get out of a signed contract and would result in a big payout for the contractor that lost the work. The project is also in an "optimization and refinement" phase to get the cost down, so the legal framework may already be there to cancel the project. Pretty sure the contract mentioned the contractor would still get a payment if they failed to get costs down.

Funding for the next section to widen the rest of I-240 in between will probably be delayed, along with who knows what else in the region and across the state (looking at you, I-85 in Gaston County). There are miles and miles of roads just completely gone, plus numerous bridges. I would not be surprised if the highway dollar damages from Helene are greater than Matthew and Florence combined. I think NCDOT is supposed to have a pretty large emergency fund set aside now (required by the legislature) due to the previous storms, but we'll have to wait and see once everyone has had a chance to dig out and finish assessing.

[rickmastfan67]

Great news for I-26 drivers.  TDOT looks like they'll be re-opening I-26 to thru traffic by Thanksgiving where the bridges got damaged.

They've re-stabilized the WB(NB) bridge and filled in the gap that was left after all the flooding.

Will re-open it with 1 lane in each direction when they do this.  This will make the I-40 detour a lot shorter, and also help with the area's recovery a lot having this main highway back open!

[rickmastfan67]

I-26 is now BACK OPEN in TN!  1-lane each way, but it is open!!

Major props to TDOT for getting it back open once again!

[CtrlAltDel]

Here's a picture of how they did it:


Presumably, the bridge in the other direction will be replaced, and then this temporary causeway will be replaced as well.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

I'm not sure how long ago this was posted, but the following was added to the NCDOT project page for the I-26 connector:

[Strider]

It looks like it may be posted not long ago... like a few days ago after they surveyed the damage from Helene.

[PColumbus73]

Are they limiting I-26 to local traffic, or is that going to become the primary freight / I-40 detour through the area?

[wriddle082]

Are they limiting I-26 to local traffic, or is that going to become the primary freight / I-40 detour through the area?

It is the primary detour for now.  Only oversized loads are prohibited due to the current width restrictions at the crossing.

[wriddle082]

The I-26 widening construction NW of Columbia is starting to wrap up.  All new lanes are now open.  Six lanes from Exit 85 to Exit 97, and eight lanes from Exit 97 to Exit 101.

https://info2.scdot.org/SCDOTPress/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=3842

This does create a slight bottleneck as it's only six through lanes from Exit 101 to I-20 (Exit 107), but that will eventually be remedied in one of the later phases of the larger Carolina Crossroads project.

[cowboy_wilhelm]

The I-26 Connector in Asheville is moving forward after the optimization and refinement process led to $124 million in cost cuts. This included reducing and redesigning bridges and other structures. The updated cost estimate is now $1.023 billion.

Construction will not begin for another 12-18 months while right-of-way is acquired, and the work is scheduled to be completed in 2031.

https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2025/2025-02-11-i-26-connector.aspx

[LM117]

Clearing work for the south section of the future I-26 Connector has begun.

https://www.ncdot.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/2025/2025-03-04-clearing-i-26-connector-south.aspx

[wriddle082]

Earlier this week I travelled all of I-26 from Columbia to Kingsport (and US 23 all the way to I-64).

Still numerous trees down in NC, mostly south of I-40, that are blocking the shoulder in numerous places.  I understand that priorities are with recovery for the people of the area over the infrastructure, but it seems like all of this dead wood is just moments away from catching fire once the conditions are just right.

Otherwise, I think the I-26 widening from Brevard Rd to Hendersonville looks like it may be on track to finally be finished by this fall.  From Hendersonville to the AVL airport looked mostly complete but was only striped for two lanes in each direction.  The new Blue Ridge Parkway bridge looked like it was close to completion, but of course the old bridge will have to come down, and the carriageways in that area will need to be completed.

One interesting note is that many of the BGS's for the exits now refer to road names over some of the municipalities.  Namely, US 64 east at Exit 49A will no longer be signed as going to Bat Cave!  It's now signed as Chimney Rock Rd.  Right now going WB both the old Bat Cave and new Chimney Rock Rd signs are up, so if someone wants a photo of Bruce Wayne's exit they'd better get it now!

Also, in Erwin, TN, it looks like TDOT is wasting no time whatsoever and has the replacement EB Nolichucky River crossing almost completed!  I think the WB crossing will also need to be either completely rebuilt or somehow restored to the way it was, so obviously it will still be two lanes through there for a bit longer, but at the rate they're going at, it could all be fixed by the end of the year.

[Hunty2022]

Here's my picture of the Bat Cave exit (which I took to get food) from 8/28/23, with the exit tab sitting on the ground: